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The High Reclaimer-Tactica

Another slow day at work and so here I am.

I had decided that the High Reclaimer wasn't all that and so I thought I'd give him a go. I played him for a good solid month and a half of which I ran him in a 35 and 50 point tourney. So from that time here is my take on the High Reclaimer.

The High Reclaimer

STATS

With the exception of Severius and the Harbinger, the High Reclaimers stats are the bottom of the barrel. Typically when you see a bad statline you see a pretty good FOC stat, this is not the case. He likely has the worst stat/focus combination in the game...fortunately he can make up for it.

ABILITIES

Terror
An often overlooked ability for the simple fact that you don't want the High Reclaimer that close to enemy troops. Still if they happen to get that close, make them take a command check, you never know when it will save you from an assassination.

Oath of Silence
He doesn't talk so no Commander ability. This means you won't be rallying the troops. If you're taking troops that aren't fearless then you'll want another model that has the Commander ability.

Reclaim
This is the sole reason that the High Reclaimer is even playable. This is his source of protection in the form of armor. It can also be the source of an assassination if you're that close to a caster. Basicly this ability lets you gather soul tokens from friendly faction models that are killed by enemy attacks or continuous effect in his control area. Durring your control phase those soul tokens become focus.

Soulstorm
Coupled with Reclaim, this is another source of protection to the High Reclaimer. Enemy models that enter or end their activations within 2" of him take 1 point of damage. This won't protect you from jacks but this will certainly protect you from single wound troops. The only thing that can get around it that I can think of is the Harbinger using Martyrdom to keep the troop alive during its movement and/or ending it's activation.

FEAT: RESURECTION
This is typically the High Reclaimers win condition. He can bring back d3+3 faction trooper models to play. The conditions are that they must be in his control range and in the original units command range. Two things are key for this. 1. Keep the unit in existance. 2. Have the unit in possition to where the placed troopers will have an effect. The ideal situation is to place hard hitting, accurate troops in the back arc of an enemy caster. Troops that come to mind are Vengers, Knights Exemplar, Daughters and Bastions. Another plus is that multiwound troops come back at full health.

WEAPONS

Cremator
Magical, reach, continuous effect: fire and decent hitting power. This weapon can perform well in dropping decent armored foes, especially if he generated enough focus. The only down side is his lowish MAT. He'll have a hard time hitting anything with a DEF14+ without boosting and anything with a DEF17+ is likely even beyond that. Things that reduces DEF will help him here.

SPELLS

Ashes to Ashes
An amazing spell that can clear troops and hit unhittable models, this spell seems out of place on the High Reclaimer. With his focus stat so low and the cost of the spell so high, you'll spend all your base focus in one casting. Unless you have an over abundance of focus from souls(which means you're likely loosing) you'll not want to cast this spell. Even then I'd question it's casting. Though despite my disdane for the spell there are some very reputable players who like it and use it as part of their strategy for clearing the field. It's a discriminating spell that spreads only to enemies so it can free up some of your models in the process.

Burning Ash
Besides souls and raising the dead, this is what the High Reclaimer is all about...nasty, choking clouds. For 1 focus each, he can place them anywhere in his control area. Not only are they cloud effects, they also reduce enemy living models chance to hit by -2 if they are in it. This spell goes a long way to protecting your army, though don't only use it on the advance. This spell works wonders while engaged. It effectively makes your Daughters DEF17 in melee, your TFG DEF15 plus Set Defense and most importantly it makes the High Reclaimer DEF16. This spell should be used throughout the whole game, atleast until you set up for the kill. The only thing you have to be careful about in using this spell(besides the few enemy models that ignore smoke) is blocking LOS to your own models who haven't activated yet.

Immolation
A very good single target offensive spell. This is a much better option than Ashes to Ashes as it's more economical. If you can lower the enemy caster's DEF then this is a good option for assassination. Some don't like it but if you get a caster knocked down, there isn't much that can stand up to a half dozen boosted POW12s...that is if you can't charge.

Sacrificial Lamb
An economical spell that gets better with the more jacks you have in your battlegroup. The only problem with it is the more jacks you have, the less souls you'll have, so unless you're playing a 75pt game or larger, I wouldn't rely on jacks and this spell too much. Considering order of activation can be a hassle, I like the Repenter which can all but ignore smoke with it's spray attacks.

ARMY SELECTION

Troops
This is probably the most important part of a High Reclaimer list. You want a good ammount of troops. The main consideration should be troops that work well with Burning Ash and/or the feat...both are good. My personal favorite are Daughters of the Flame with their high DEF, assassination potential and the ability to get where they need to. Other good choices for Burning Ash are Idrians and TFG. Choices for the feat are Bastions, Vengers and Knights Exemplar. They too work with Burning Ash, just not as well. A good mix of troops is always good. Also because of Burning Ash, consider merc troops and by merc troops I mean Aiyanna and Holt. They'll do well to enhance your army with their toolbox of abilities and will stick around because of Burning Ash. Support in the Choir isn't bad either. They're cheap souls and they're well worth it even for the one or two jacks you'll have.

Solos
My main consideration for solos is hitting power and what works well with Burning Ash. This is how I found out how amazing Anastasia was(even without Burning Ash). Anything with a good DEF works well. Eiryss, Anastasia, Allegiant. Hitting power the best thing I can bring is a pair of Knight Exemplar Seneschals and possibly Gravus. Some other utility pieces to consider are the Covenant, Gorman, Rhupert and possibly a Vassal. The only solo I'd not recommend is a Reclaimer, mainly because you won't be bringing many jacks and you won't want to compete for souls.

Jacks
The best jack you can bring with the High Reclaimer is the Avatar. It requires no focus which the High Reclaimer has little to spare. Being that the Avatar doesn't cut into your jack points another consideration is the Vanquisher. It needs little to no focus to run and it has some great troop clearing ability which the High Reclaimer lacks. Lastly I'd consider a pair of Repenters. Again needing little to no focus, these will clear troops, even through the smoke, and can even go for the assassination. Put one focus on each and cast Sacraficial Lamb and you have a nice little assassination combo. Arc nodes aren't bad if you're wanting to cast spells from afar. Really any of our jacks aren't bad with him but you'll not want many jacks or jacks that need more than one focus to perform.

TACTICS

On the approach there is little surprise. Advance and drop smoke. One thing that can help speed up your advance is charging your own models so you can drop smoke a good 3" further. The best way to do this is to charge a TFG. What you need to do is when you run your TFG make sure you have one 8-10" ahead of where you want the High Reclaimer to go and turn it so the High Reclaimer is in it's front arc. Then charge it with the High Reclaimer. Because of Set Defense, he'll need 9s or better to hit which gives it a good chance of living. Even if it dies, the extra distance is well worth the lost model as now you can drop smoke further up the field.

After the approach is where you'll want to start dropping smoke on engaged living enemy models. You'll be surprised at how resiliant TFG can be with Burning Ash to protect them. Be sure to look at charge lanes and to drop smoke accordingly. Always keep in mind your vulnerable caster and key models.

Once you've established yourself in the thick of battle, keep in mind the models you can bring back with your feat for the assassination and when possible go for the back arc.

The biggest hinderence to the High Reclaimer is enemy models that can ignore smoke followed by non-living models. When the High Reclaimer has a bad match up it's really bad. Non-living models are managable but those that ignore smoke can be downright deadly. Fortuneltly the only models that ignore the smoke and the penalties are very few, Assault Kommandos and Strakhov come to mind. Still try to block LOS to the models that matter and put Burning Ash where those Legion beasts need to be to attack.

Some like to assassinate with the High Reclaimer, I do not. He's far from reliable. I prefer to camp a lot of focus and weather the storm though if the opportunity arises I'll go for it.

When assassination isn't an option or hasn't presented itself, kill the opposing army. Clouds, clouds, clouds will go a long way in the attrition game, as will the feat. So just because you don't get a good lane on the caster doesn't mean you should hold off on the feat. Look at your options and decide accordingly.

Another slow day at work and so here I am.Soulstorm
Coupled with Reclaim, this is another source of protection to the High Reclaimer. Enemy models that enter or end their activations within 2" of him take 1 point of damage. This won't protect you from jacks but this will certainly protect you from single wound troops. The only thing that can get around it that I can think of is the Harbinger using Martyrdom to keep the troop alive during its movement and/or ending it's activation.

Another example would be tough troops that can't be knocked down, like Black Ogrun with their solo.

However, in either case, if you enter his field and are then saved, you still won't get to make an attack, since models that are disabled have their activation immediately end. Models that start inside of the Soulstorm are always capable of walking up and taking a swing against the HR, since they don't die until the end of their activation.

Personally, I disagree about your accessments of A2A and Immolation. A2A is actually a reasonably useful spell (it only takes a handful of dead troopers to let you cast it and still put up smoke) since you can bounce it off of a low DEF target. Immolation is almost worthless because his FOC 5 means that most anything he can actually hit doesn't care about POW 12s (or POW 10s), and since you're pretty much always boosting, it costs 3 to cast compared to 5 for A2A, which is more than half.

Downside of A2A is that the number of extra targets is highly variable, but it's never less than 1, so you're always generating at least 2 hits (although often the first won't be useful). It does suck when you roll a 1 for every A2A casting though (been there).

Also: Sac Lamb is a trap on his spell list. It's an order of activation nightmare, since typically you want to move the HR last (since his army needs to get out of his way, and you're putting down LOS blocking clouds), but Sac Lamb is only useful if you're activating early. Whenever I see someone playing the HR and using it, they almost always at some point realize that they have an order of operations error in their planning and a big kink in their plan (Oh, I can't sac lamb to give focus to the arc nodes to let them run into position so I can arc A2A twice with my 11 focus this turn...).

Edit: Other models that ignore smoke clouds: Anything with Eyeless Sight (see: Legion). For some reason I've never been able to understand, it's been ruled that models also get to ignore the to-hit penalties for being inside of the clouds.

Reznik missed his chance, Scourge of Heresy is with High Reclaimer now. Doesn't matter which song he plays on that boombox outside the window in the rain, Scourge is in a better place. Scourge advises Reznik to move on, as it's getting kinda creepy. Fire of Salvation is looking available though...

Another example would be tough troops that can't be knocked down, like Blighted Trollkin Bloodgorgers with their solo, Gerlak Slaughterborn.

I made a small edit for accuracy above, Jandrese. Black Ogrun are the five-man Cryx 4/6 multi-wounds unit.

Otherwise I agree that Ashes to Ashes is a decent spell. The fact that it only chains to enemy models makes it extremely lethal in many circumstances. Spell your own model in the back to startg the chain.

Immolation is generally only worth it if you just recieved a boat-load of souls in a single round. It is certainly niot a go-to spell for the High Reclaimer.

"You've been assigned to planet Blorch, home of the slaughtering rat people."

Yeah, those guys. The sudden appearance of two different Cyrx medium base units still confuses me.

To be honest, the feat Assassination has been kinda iffy for me with the HR, just because he has no way to buff MAT or to-hit at all and frankly most troopers have difficulty hitting Warcasters. It's a good thing to keep in your back pocket though, since it discourages enemy warcasters from getting too cheeky.

Attrition is really his game, with the ash clouds and A2A. IMHO, the Ash clouds have diminishing returns after the 5th or 6th typically (you've got everything covered more or less), and if you have extra focus, you can really thin the enemy's ranks with a judicious A2A, especially if you've brought a Hierophant to reduce the focus burden. That's also why I like to run an arc node with him, since he often doesn't have LOS through his own army nor the desire to personally jump forward into A2A range.

He's one of the casters I'll bring a Guardian with, just because most of the time I want a beatstick heavy, but occasionally I want to arc something. The Guardian used to be his best friend, but since the banners stopped working it's more for old times sake than anything else. The Guardian also used to be the only jack that could use focus put on it after its activation, making Ritual Sacrifice occasionally useful.

Actually, Escalation in general was a huge gift wrapped present for the High Reclaimer. Cleansers were the troops that made his feat useful, the Guardian let him take one heavy that did everything he needed, the Monolith Bearer cut down on early Zealot deaths. The Seneschal let you issue orders (which the Guardian couldn't do). It was a good time to be the strong silent type.

I've never understood why his MAT is so terrible though. Have you see his model? The guy is all beef. He's not some girly Cygnar caster with pencil arms.

Reznik missed his chance, Scourge of Heresy is with High Reclaimer now. Doesn't matter which song he plays on that boombox outside the window in the rain, Scourge is in a better place. Scourge advises Reznik to move on, as it's getting kinda creepy. Fire of Salvation is looking available though...

Won't work with them...or Tough Pirates with Grogspar. A model's activation ends when it is disabled. Even though they make the tough roll, they still were disabled so their activation would end at the edge of Soulstorm.

I'll revise the A2A and Immolation to reflect different styles of play.

Eyeless Sight is for determining LoS and doesn't have an effect on the attack roll like Alchemical Mask does. It does ignore concealment and stealth so ranged attacks would ignore models in the cloud but if the attacking model was in the cloud they would suffer -2 to attack rolls. It also affects all melee attacks.

You'd have troop clearing power in spades, but you'll be in trouble when the time comes to actually hit the enemy caster. Better hope those Dervishes can stay alive.

Swapping out the Wracks for a Menofixer might not be a terrible idea, but I love the free ash cloud. You could also play with the number of Repenters and Dervishes, they're completely interchangeable. Rhupert is great for stacking Dirge of Mists on top of Burning Ash to give the TFG effectively DEF 16(!!), and to toss Fearless on them if they flub a command check. The choir is decidedly oversized on purpose to offer up bodies for Sac Lamb.

Reznik missed his chance, Scourge of Heresy is with High Reclaimer now. Doesn't matter which song he plays on that boombox outside the window in the rain, Scourge is in a better place. Scourge advises Reznik to move on, as it's getting kinda creepy. Fire of Salvation is looking available though...

I'd think Rhoven would be good with the HR as well. You get a commander, a way for your models to ignore your own generated cloud effects/stealth/whatever, and two exemplars for souls/hitting power.

The units I see best benefiting from his feat are probably Daughters and Bastions, with KE, Zealots, and Errants not too far behind. Bringing back bastions at full health can be a pain for the opponent, while Errants can be used to plug up holes and re-self sacrifice.

For jacks, I'd probably go Reckoner (for theme and ranged firepower, plus a heavy hitter in his own right), a Revenger (for placing ash clouds) and a Repenter (for boostable sprays). Bring a max choir for Sac Lamb, and then who knows what else.

Divide and conquer, a good motto. Unite and lead, a better one. --Goethe

Just want to insist on the whole Ashes to Ashes thing. The spell is really useful for him mostly because of using your own guys as targets to get the spell out, almost never needing any boosting to hit, immolation on the other hand is a turd sandwich on his list. I have managed to assassinate casters trough sneaky uses of ashes to ashes, I have always failed when I had to do it trough immolations. Less hit's at lower power aren't so bad when you know that you can make them hit with ease.

Odd, I've had the exact opposite. I find that I've set up an assassination with Immolation just fine with a slam from the jacks or Seneschal. As far as A2A, I've had some success with it but at 4 focus cost, even hitting a TFG in the back you need 6s of which with that much focus invested you need to boost(I don't chance that anymore). If that weren't enough you're then relying on a decent roll for additional models hit of which could be great or could be bad. I personally wish it was d3+1 rather than d6. Sorry, I don't like it but I put it up there that many of you do like it.

HR seems like he would enjoy a Reckoner around to stack Choking Veil with the clouds. Also shoot a jack or multi wound target with the gun and with the -2 def debuff you have a nice shot at not needing to boost to hit. I find that Jacks are surprisingly good target for A2A, since it's d6 enemy models within 5" and not 5" from center, so the larger the target the better the spread.

I've rediscovered my love for the HR lately. He really is a fun caster. Always lots of carnage on both sides, hopefully with you getting enough focus (or troop position) to with via spell assassination (or via resurrection).

In my 35 pt match I went with Guardian, Crusader, full choir, full bastions, Rhoven, KE and full zealots (no MB). Funny to not have a solo, but really Rhoven and his unit are effectively solos.

The only thing I'm going to change in the list for next time are the two jacks. Their speed was a real issue and I'm going to swap them out for a Revenger and a Reckoner - the debuff on flare alone will be worth it.

One nice thing about the HR is it is so easy to keep him alive in the midst of the action. Spend 3 focus on clouds all around him to block LOS while staying in the middle of the action collecting souls.

The key (and it takes practice) is to make sure you can spend that focus effectively when you get it and to be able to resurrect troops in the casters back arc if going for assassination via resurrection.

I lost last game - one point of damage short of killing Stryker - I failed to do both of the things above.

I was thinking about this list and wouldn't you run into the problem of the Seneschal being Knocked down due to his ability, and sure he can get health back but he's still knocked down. Or do you just rarely have that happen due to cloud coverage?

Won't work with them...or Tough Pirates with Grogspar. A model's activation ends when it is disabled. Even though they make the tough roll, they still were disabled so their activation would end at the edge of Soulstorm.

Can you quote the rule or page number that reflects this?

Thanks.

Judge since April 25 2013Infernal since April 23 2014

Originally Posted by PPS_Hungerford

You are 100% getting a box made of bees, full of bees, delivered by bees, that barks bees directly into your mind.

With the exception of Severius and the Harbinger, the High Reclaimers stats are the bottom of the barrel. Typically when you see a bad statline you see a pretty good FOC stat, this is not the case. He likely has the worst stat/focus combination in the game...fortunately he can make up for it.

Just noting that his DEF/ARM are more like bog standard than low. Avg caster DEF is 14, avg ARM is 15, especially among Prime casters. He has above avg health though. His above avg STR is mitigated by still having a P+S14. MAT6 is standard for a non-melee focused caster, though IMO his IS a melee focused caster, so I'll agree his MAT is below avg.

This is typically the High Reclaimers win condition. He can bring back d3+3 faction trooper models to play. The conditions are that they must be in his control range and in the original units command range. Two things are key for this. 1. Keep the unit in existance. 2. Have the unit in possition to where the placed troopers will have an effect. The ideal situation is to place hard hitting, accurate troops in the back arc of an enemy caster. Troops that come to mind are Vengers, Knights Exemplar, Daughters and Bastions. Another plus is that multiwound troops come back at full health.

As noted, his feat is also useful in attrition games, though IMO it's lost a good deal of this power in MK2, especially the larger a game gets. But losing models does not = you losing the game. It's part of his game. His force bounces back well from alpha strikes.

Magical, reach, continuous effect: fire and decent hitting power. This weapon can perform well in dropping decent armored foes, especially if he generated enough focus. The only down side is his lowish MAT. He'll have a hard time hitting anything with a DEF14+ without boosting and anything with a DEF17+ is likely even beyond that. Things that reduces DEF will help him here.

In MK1 I would not consider him for assassination directly. With reach in MK2, I think he has the potential. KD effects and/or a reckoner help here. The reckoner is also a good jack to off-load excess focus

Ashes to Ashes

An amazing spell that can clear troops and hit unhittable models, this spell seems out of place on the High Reclaimer. With his focus stat so low and the cost of the spell so high, you'll spend all your base focus in one casting. Unless you have an over abundance of focus from souls(which means you're likely loosing) you'll not want to cast this spell. Even then I'd question it's casting. Though despite my disdane for the spell there are some very reputable players who like it and use it as part of their strategy for clearing the field. It's a discriminating spell that spreads only to enemies so it can free up some of your models in the process.

Not his go-to spell, but extremely useful for crowd control, which helps play into his attrition game.

Burning Ash

Just watch out for legion. Legion makes the HR cry.

Sacrificial Lamb

Part of the HR's balancing act in list building. You want a nice blend of troops and jacks. He need bodies, but also needs hard-hitters and effective ways to use focus that doesn't just default to smoke.

If you have your order of operations set up properly, you can charge a model, end movement in melee range(successful charge so activation doesn't end), then cast Sac Lamb before making the charge attack, remove your charge target to feed your jacks and continue with the HR's activation.

This will give you another option, beyond the charge a TFG with set defense option.

If you have your order of operations set up properly, you can charge a model, end movement in melee range(successful charge so activation doesn't end), then cast Sac Lamb before making the charge attack, remove your charge target to feed your jacks and continue with the HR's activation.

This will give you another option, beyond the charge a TFG with set defense option.

As far as models that are good to use as a Burning Ash marker
With a Backstrike bonus you need to roll a 4 to hit an Exemplar Bastion (Or cinerator?) with A2A. Your at dice-6 on damage against the bastion. You can do at most 6 damage to it.

With a Backstrike bonus you need to roll a 5 to hit a Choir member or other Def 12 model. Your at dice -2. Only a roll of two 1's will leave it alive. Assume it will die.

With a Backstrike bonus you only need to roll a 3 to hit any of your heavy jacks. You will generally bat a dice -9. At most you will do 3 damage.

While it certainly eats a lot of focus to do so. It would appear that bouncing A2A off your own guys can be fairly not-risky. Leaving it mostly up to the d6 targets roll.

BTW, If you can arc A2A at the Guardian, via the Guardian's arc node. That would be awesome.

::EDIT::

Huh in theory you could have a unit of Choir that has taken some losses. (Possibly/probally due to sac lamb) Have them Run to put the leaders CMD range where you need it. Activate High Reclaimer and advance. Have him feat and put a choir member back in that unit. Since the unit ran you should have an easy time of it. Then A2A off the newly placed choir member.

In theory you could have a ~20" threat range on this with exact placement. Advance 5", Control area 10" and an Arc Node or Hierophant to make up that 2" gap. A2A can then goes 5" + base size from the choir boy. With a slightly shorter threat range you can reasonably have a few Choir members B2B with each other and kill one per A2A cast.

Won't work with them...or Tough Pirates with Grogspar. A model's activation ends when it is disabled. Even though they make the tough roll, they still were disabled so their activation would end at the edge of Soulstorm.

Originally Posted by DarkLegacy

Can you quote the rule or page number that reflects this?

Thanks.

I also can't find any reference to a disabled model immediately ending its activation. Can you please cite the relevant page number?

"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
-H.L. Mencken

I'm surprised you didn't add zealots as compatible troops, they're cheap, they can become almost invincible for one round and they can really lay down some serious hurt with their pow 12+2 firebombs. What I've also found is that they aren't bad choices come feat time and while I'll always prioritise other models like bastions first, I'll place one or two zealots within firebomb range if I can so they can get to work with rat 4+2 for fervor and another +2 for aiming.
The other unit I also like to take is Visgoth Juviah & crew. When it's feat time I can bring back pow 11 weaponmaster blessed multiwound models that as far as I'm aware also get battle-driven for an extra bonus.

Concerning Ashes to ashes I love having it in the HR's arsenal. I love it when my opponent runs models into my own thinking he'll at least tie them up only to have ashes to ashes clear up shooting & charge ranges.

Utilize Sac Lamb on the approach. It's a good way to let your Jacks run for practically free in the early game, while still being able to cast a lot of clouds. In the late game it has uses too, especially if you're utilizing the clouds to lower enemy mat and obscure your force beyond the point where the lines meet (to reserve elements in the opposing force, etc). SOme players like to attack in waves. Sac Lamb can get a lot of extra focus onto your Jacks if you're fielding several, while the ash clouds then don't need to be placed so that they block LOS to the first wave, just to the second.

One thing I have learned from reading him and this list. I am not ready for this complicated dude. He is a theme caster where Ashes seems to be the main event. I wil learn to smack my opponent around then think about bringing him along.

I also can't find any reference to a disabled model immediately ending its activation. Can you please cite the relevant page number?

That's because it doesn't happen. Disabled models can continue their activation normally in most circumstances. There are some exceptions, like the Knight Exemplar Seneschal's ability that makes an explicit restriction when he is disabled.

Reznik missed his chance, Scourge of Heresy is with High Reclaimer now. Doesn't matter which song he plays on that boombox outside the window in the rain, Scourge is in a better place. Scourge advises Reznik to move on, as it's getting kinda creepy. Fire of Salvation is looking available though...

The High Reclaimers was always been one of my favorites casters (he was the second caster who I bought after the battle box when I started to play back in escalation days), but it wasn't being until lately when I actually learned to make him work. My main issue was the lack of weapon master infantry, who is really needed to make assassination attempts with his feat (my problem was that I always refused to buy exemplar knights, errants or vengers because I don't like how they look).

Lately it was happening two things that finally leave me play the HR properly. The addition of the Attendant Priest who lets me run my Forgeguard with the HR and the releases of the 2 playes battlebox who give me and excuse to buy some menite heavy infantry (I always loved how bastions and cinerators looks, but I played 4 armies and PoM is the one I expend less money to expand).

That said, I have to say that I strongly disagree with the OP when he says that HR likes to have lots of Infantry an few jacks in his army. HR loves to have jacks, he needs to have a bunch of cheap infantry to take souls, but he loves to have a good battlegroup to uses that souls. IMO the best way to use his extra focus is on the jacks, because he is not good in combat (low MAT and average p+s on his weapon) and a "bad" spell list. I said "bad" spell list, because his best spell (burning ashes) is a defensive one, who tend not to be worth casting when you have lots of focus (because most of the models you would want to protect are allrady dead), he have no spell buff neither for troops or jacks, and he is an awful offensive spellcaster because of his terrible magical ability (5!) who makes A2A a meh spell with him (cause he only can reliably hit his own jacks in the back) and Immolation a really cornecase one (only worth casting in KD casters), and his other spell, actually give more focus to the jacks.

I swear I tried to play him with arc nodes to use his huge pool of focus to cast his offensive spells, and he probed himself incapable of hitting anything with his magic ability 5. Then I tried to use focus to fuel jacks and everything starts to work better.

I used him in four steps:

-Advance his army blocking LOS with Burning Ashes.
-Engage with his infantry.
-Use the focus generate by the souls to fuel his jacks.
-Pop feat and try an assassination run.

I think nearly any jack works well with him, and hungry focus jacks like the redeemer works extraordinarily well with him. He prefers cheap heavy hitters (Crusaders FTW!), but he likes to have some ranged jack to spend focus on in the earliest turns (Redeemers are great, bur it also works great with Vanquishers even Reckoners). castigators are god jacks if he plays with cleansers (and cleansers are good with him!). He don't like Sanctifiers because they stole souls from him. he don't like Avatar because he is so expensive and he cannot put focus on it. He don't like revengers neither BoV cause they are expensive arc nodes he probably won't use (Guardian is a better option for and arc node, because at least he is a good heavy hitter).

And for the units, TFG are really great (I use to run 2 min units without attachment with him). Cleansers are great to provide another cloud effect with incinerate order (specially when they incinerate a castigator). Forgeguard are really good, and the Attendant Priest give them a very important ability: pathfinder (who allows me to use not only BA to block LOS but forest too in the early game, who I can move through latter thanks pathfinder). I like cinerators because when I can't block LOS to all my army I let LOS just to the cinerators because the spd buff they get when damaged who allows me to position them better to pop feat.

And for the solos. As counterintuitive it can seem Reclaimers are not bad solos with HR. Sure they steal souls to the HR, but the HR reclaimer souls becomes focus next turn and if not expended they are wested souls, reclaimers can keep the souls until the jacks need them in form of focus. And they also allow the troops to leave the tinny HR control area and still provide souls to his army (who can be really interesting to stop flanking attempts). I think its very important to use Saxon Orrik or the piper to give pathfinder to the troops, that allow (as I said before) use the forest to block LOS and then move through it.

And I think that's more or less all I wanted to say about the High Reclaimer, XD.

Eh, he isn't the greatest spellcaster, but if you're targeting DEF 12 or 13 infantry, A2A will land on a 7 or an 8, which obviously you're boosting. It might miss, but odds are you'll hit most of them. Of course it makes A2A basically a 5 FOC spell, but that's why you're spending the souls.

If you really need to, you are sometimes better off targeting a model near a high DEF caster (a DEF 17 caster that you need 12s to hit for instance) with a couple of A2As instead of trying to immolate the caster to death (3 focus per try, and most will miss). It's 12 focus (assuming you boost damage against only the caster) for a pair of boosted POW 10s, not a wonderful attack, but most high DEF casters have lousy ARM so it's not without merit.

Reznik missed his chance, Scourge of Heresy is with High Reclaimer now. Doesn't matter which song he plays on that boombox outside the window in the rain, Scourge is in a better place. Scourge advises Reznik to move on, as it's getting kinda creepy. Fire of Salvation is looking available though...

I miss Khador jacks systematically with A2A, I even use to miss when I shoot my own jacks with the back bonus >_<. I filed every attempt to assassination with immolations dispite having 15+ focus to expend on it (and I don't remember facing high def casters).

When I stopped wasting my focus trying to casting A2A and expend it on a redeemer I killed way more enemy infantry, when I stopped wasting focus casting immolations and expend it ona a Vanquisher or a Rekoner I've done lot more of damage on enemy casters.

I played the HR quite alot lost year , has some success with him. What has worked for me:
-Using feat to to bring back Exemplar Knights (who died from shooting) to Alpha strike Big heavies.
-Using feat to bring back choir members and then A2A them to kill pSkarre on her feat turn
-Using feat turn just demoralise my opponent
I ran 2 Devishers,1 Crusader and the Avatar in 35 points ,used the choir to sing to the Jacks, and the clouds to screen my troops.
Only problem I had with sacrificial lamb is after I allocate the focus ,I suddenly start activating my Jacks and forget to complete my HR's activation (Slap to forehead). So when
Big Unit of choir ideal for sacrificial lamb.
He really struggles trying to kill stuff needed 14 Focus to Karchev , he really needs that extra mat. So I ran him mostly as a Big source of focus to my Jacks.

Last edited by KrynnC; 12-28-2011 at 04:39 AM.
Reason: Cannot bring back models that has been removed from the game

I played the HR quite alot lost year , has some success with him. What has worked for me:
-Using feat to to bring back Exemplar Knights (who died from shooting) to Alpha strike Big heavies.
-Using feat to bring back choir members and then A2A them to kill pSkarre on her feat turn
-Using feat turn just demoralise my opponent
-I used sacricial lamb quite alot with big success , it also quite useful if you which to move Knight Exemplar round by sacrificing him and then bringing him and his buddies back into better charge lanes.
I ran 2 Devishers,1 Crusader and the Avatar in 35 points ,used the choir to sing to the Jacks, and the clouds to screen my troops.
Only problem I had with sacrificial lamb is after I allocate the focus ,I suddenly start activating my Jacks and forget to complete my HR's activation (Slap to forehead). So when
Big Unit of choir ideal for sacrificial lamb.
He really struggles trying to kill stuff needed 14 Focus to Karchev , he really needs that extra mat. So I ran him mostly as a Big source of focus to my Jacks.

You cannot bring a model that was removed from play back into play. This means if you cast Sacrificial Lamb on a model, it is gone for the game. The feat will not return it to play.

Additionally, you lose any bonuses to STR and ARM for Knights Exemplar when you return models to that unit with his feat. Your post would seem to imply that by using the feat you are killing heavy warjacks by retaining the STR and ARM bonuses you gain from Bond of Brotherhood.

"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
-H.L. Mencken

You cannot bring a model that was removed from play back into play. This means if you cast Sacrificial Lamb on a model, it is gone for the game. The feat will not return it to play.

Eeeeee ... okay, SLAP to face. I played that wrong. Apologies, thanks for the correction Stevo.

Additionally, you lose any bonuses to STR and ARM for Knights Exemplar when you return models to that unit with his feat. Your post would seem to imply that by using the feat you are killing heavy warjacks by retaining the STR and ARM bonuses you gain from Bond of Brotherhood.

That I know that they don't retain there STR and ARM, it more about just giving them the alpha strike charge by placing them further up when bringing them back with the feat with theory that they can kill the Big nasty.

Used a trick off this list to come back from what was going to be a major loss. Was playing Feora 2. On her feat turn she killed all my choir, all but one zealot and the monolith bearer, who were both on fire, most of my cleansors inspite of their fire immunity and most my jacks. I had my reclaimer placed behind two clouds so she could not get to me, but she moved dangerously close. I mini feated my zealots, should have done it the turn before, ran one of them within 7" of Feora ignoring the free strikes. Then moved the HR forward feated, put some zealots on the table next to Feora, we debated rather the zealots were under the effect of the feat now, but just to make sure I put a bunch there. Then with my 21 focus, I A2Ad the hell out of feora. I still had 7 focus left when she died. I had nothing but 4 cleansers, a monolith bearer, a zealot and two jacks, both with less than 6 boxes on them. Feora had over 2/3s of her 50 point army left.

It is about timing. Giving your opponent the opportunity to wipe out a ton of troops to get your focus count up, then feat+A2A, major victory.

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That I know that they don't retain there STR and ARM, it more about just giving them the alpha strike charge by placing them further up when bringing them back with the feat with theory that they can kill the Big nasty.

Cool. Glad to help you out. Go forth and lay waste in the name of the Creator!

"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
-H.L. Mencken

I've never understood why his MAT is so terrible though. Have you see his model? The guy is all beef. He's not some girly Cygnar caster with pencil arms.

Maybe he just has a hard time swinging with all those muscles in the way...

I, too, miss the good old days of the cleanser bomb. Dropping 2d6 Cleansers on a warcaster and then hitting them all in the back with a Vanquisher AoE for 2d6 POW 12's was a thing of beauty. Lately, I've been using the High Reclaimer with a two-phase attack plan. I swamp the enemy with troops, killing as much of his stuff as I can, then let him kill whatever he wants so I can reap a massive amount of souls, then use those souls for A2A on my next turn, pop the feat to raise some weaponmasters, and go to town on the warcaster who has recently found himself to be sans army. It's amazing what can be accomplished in Warmachine when you don't actually care if your dudes survive!

Warmachine is all about creating unfair exchanges that are heavily weighted in your favor. When the High Reclaimer and a good array of Protectorate troops are involved, almost every exchange is an unfair exchange in your favor, especially when you end up with 20+ focus on your turn.

Last edited by Blackraine; 05-18-2012 at 03:08 PM.

It's not a question of win or lose, it's a question of whether or not you want to have friends afterwards.

Edit: Other models that ignore smoke clouds: Anything with Eyeless Sight (see: Legion). For some reason I've never been able to understand, it's been ruled that models also get to ignore the to-hit penalties for being inside of the clouds.

Jandrese,

Can you include your source on this?
I am sure you are correct, but I hadn't seen the ruling.
Not that Bob was going to be a drop versus Legion anyway, but this paired with seeing through the clouds makes it an auto no...

Thanks,
-Osito

I follow no kingdom's flag, fear no ship on the sea, and bow to no master. Blood calls for blood, and I will spill much more in the days to come.

Can you include your source on this?
I am sure you are correct, but I hadn't seen the ruling.
Not that Bob was going to be a drop versus Legion anyway, but this paired with seeing through the clouds makes it an auto no...

Thanks,
-Osito

That's a Mk I rule (post date 2010), it is not true anymore. Now all living enemy models in the clouds will be debuffed.

Reznik missed his chance, Scourge of Heresy is with High Reclaimer now. Doesn't matter which song he plays on that boombox outside the window in the rain, Scourge is in a better place. Scourge advises Reznik to move on, as it's getting kinda creepy. Fire of Salvation is looking available though...